i3D App Brings Glasses-Free 3D To iOS

i3D app brings glasses-free 3D to iOS, tracks your gaze like a creepy portrait tracks Scooby Doo and it could be because Google unveiled a similar headtracking feature for Ice Cream Sandwich during the opening keynote at this month’s I/O event. i3D is now available for free in the iTunes Store and runs on the iPad 2, iPhone 4 and fourth generation iPod Touch and also you can compare both iOS and Ice Cream Sandwich 3D generators after the break……..

Jeremie Francone and Laurence Nigay, researchers of University Joseph Fourier have released a free iOS app called i3D, which offers pseudo-3D imagery on your iOS device and features HCP (Head-Coupled Perspective), which uses the front camera for real-time tracking of the user’s face, enabling the software to shift the perspective, thus offering the illusion of a 3D image. The app features five 3D models, including a cube, a series of circular targets and rather cheekily a collection of Mii pictures overlaid on a series of bars of different heights. It’s not the first time that HCP has been attempted on a handheld – DSiWare title Looksley’s Line Up used head-tracking so users could move images to see hidden shapes – though the tracking seems a little more accurate here, perhaps thanks to Apple’s superior camera. Having tested the app on both an iPod touch and an iPad, the head-tracking works much better on the larger device, owing to the increased field of view. It’s a reasonably effective illusion of 3D, though it looks a little old hat after 3DS.